John
Lemprière (c. 1765, Jersey, – February 1, 1824, London), English
classical scholar, lexicographer, theologian, teacher and headmaster.
He was the son of Charles Lemprière (died 1801), of Mont au Prêtre,
Jersey.

He received his early education
at Winchester School, where his father sent him in 1779, and from 1785
at Pembroke College, Oxford, probably on the advice of Richard Valpy,
receiving graduating BA in 1790, MA in 1792, BD in 1801, and DD in 1803.

Lemprière
may have been influenced by another Pembroke man, the lexicographer Dr
Samuel Johnson, whose famous A Dictionary of the English Language had
appeared in 1755. A little over thirty years later, around 1786,
Lemprière started work on his own Classical dictionary.

In
1787, he was invited by Valpy to be assistant headmaster at Reading
Grammar School, and in 1789, to the great pride of his father, he
preached in St Helier, Jersey. He achieved renown for his Bibliotheca
Classica or Classical Dictionary containing a full Account of all the
Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors, (Reading, November, 1788),
which, edited by various later scholars, long remained a readable if
not absolutely trustworthy reference book in mythology and classical
history. Lemprière wished "to give the most accurate and satisfactory
account of all the proper names which occur in reading the Classics,
and by a judicious collection of anecdotes and historical facts to draw
a picture of ancient times, not less instructive than entertaining."
(Lemprière, Preface, 1788). It has been a handbook for teachers,
journalists, dramatists and poets for almost two hundred years and John
Keats is said to have known the book almost by heart. "Far from being
just an ordinary dictionary, however, Lemprière's encyclopedic work is
full of incidental details and stories which bring the mythical past to
life." It is also assumed that the great scholar Valpy helped Lemprière
with the dictionary.

Lemprière held a
schoolmaster's post at Bolton Grammar School in 1791 and was a curate
at Radley. From 1792 until 1808 or 1809, he was headmaster of Abingdon
Grammar School, and in 1800 was also appointed as vicar of that parish,
serving until 1811. While occupying these two posts, he published a
Universal Biography of Eminent Persons in all Ages and Countries
(London, 1808).

He neglected at this time
both his clerical as well as his scholarly duties, so that in 1799 he
was deprived of his benefice. Falling numbers in the school led to his
downfall. In desperation, he even devised a shady scheme under which he
guaranteed scholarships at his own old College, Pembroke, for a fee of
twenty guineas.

In 1809 he succeeded to
the headmastership of Exeter Free Grammar School and held this post
until 1819. On retiring from this school, following a disagreement with
the trustees, he received the living of Meeth in Devon, which, together
with that of Newton St Petrock, he held until his death from a stroke
in the Strand, London. He is buried in Meeth, where his grave can be
found.

Two of his sons were also Rectors
of Meeth: Francis Drocus Lemprière (born 1794) and Everard Lemprière
(born 1800). His daughter Caroline, who died at the age of
twenty-seven, was the first wife of John Bathurst Deane.

The 1991 prize-winning novel Lemprière's Dictionary
by Lawrence Norfolk has as its background Lemprière's writing of his
dictionary, as well as the places the Lemprière family came from. The
main character is John Lemprière, author of the Classical Dictionary,
and also his father, Charles Lemprière. The rest of the story is
fiction.

Newton St. Petrock, North Devon, England
by Mary Brownless, née Mary King
The Rev. John Lemprière, as well as his son Rev. Francis Drocus Lemprière and Rev. Everard Lemprière were
rectors of the churches at Meeth and Newton St. Petrock.

My Gt. Gt. Gt. Gt. Gt. Gt. Gt. Gt. Grandmother Mary (or Marie) Lemprière (née Esnouf) was godmother to Marie Payzant, who then lived in Jersey. Mary (or Marie) moved to Lunenburg Nova Scotia in 1753 with her parents Marie Anne and Louis Payzant (Raid on Lunenburg, 1756). Linda
Layton wrote to me: "In Feb. 1747/48, a Marie Lemprière was godmother
to Louis & Marie Anne's sixth child, named Marie. (There was a
pattern of infants being named after the godmother or godfather.) She
was the widow of Jean Lemprière." See also: Linda G. Layton, A passion for survival: The true story of Marie Anne and Louis Payzant in Eighteenth-century Nova Scotia. Nimbus Publishing

John Lemprière wrote the famous Classical Dictionary in 1788.

My Great Grandmother Laura Elizabeth Baker I remember so well. It
was amazing to have known someone born in 1871. She was child during
the Boer Wars and when the First World War started she was 43! I was 18
when she died, she was 102!

Lemprière's DictionaryA novel by Lawrence Norfolk

The
1991 prize-winning novel Lemprière's Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk has
as its background Lemprière's writing of his dictionary, as well as the
places the Lemprière family came from. The main character is John
Lemprière, author of the Classical Dictionary, and also his father,
Charles Lemprière. The rest of the story is fiction.